Tanner Hulette, General Manager of Mechanicsville Toyota, Named Autobytel Dealer of the Month; Dealer of the Year Awards Slated

Tanner Hulette, General Manager of Mechanicsville Toyota, Named Autobytel
Dealer of the Month; Dealer of the Year Awards Slated for January 2014
Autobytel honors exceptional dealers from a competitive field of thousands of
automotive retailers for outstanding Internet lead management and customer
service standards.
Business Wire
IRVINE, Calif. -- December 4, 2013
Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL), the company dedicated to connecting automotive
consumers with dealers, has named Tanner Hulette, General Manager of
Mechanicsville Toyota in Mechanicsville, Virginia, the Autobytel Dealer of the
Month for October 2013.
The company’s Dealer Awards Program honors exceptional Autobytel dealers who
employ the highest standards in customer service and Internet automotive
retail sales and lead management processes. The Autobytel Dealer of the Year
Award is slated to be announced at the NADA Convention & Expo in New Orleans
in January 2014, with the crowning dealer chosen from this year’s pool of
monthly winners.
Tanner joins Patti Scipione of M’Lady Nissan, Paul LeRose of Pauly Toyota, Tim
Morgan of Radley Acura, Steve Roberts of Crown Motors Redding, Kenny Jakel of
Lee Johnson Kia, Rese Ballou of Hendrick Toyota Scion and Tony Thorstad of
Smart Motors Toyota—who were named the Autobytel Dealers of the Month for
March, April, May, June, July, August and September 2013—in that pool of
winners.
“The key to Mechanicsville Toyota’s success is the way the entire dealership
operates as an Internet department,” said Jeff Coats, president and CEO of
Autobytel Inc. “This innovative approach enables each member of the dealership
to be a customer touch point, from the initial contact to the sale, from F&I
to service, all the way through to post-sale communication. Tanner and his
team have been banner members of the Autobytel family for nearly 14 years, are
consistent Toyota President’s Award winners, and deserve to be named an
Autobytel Dealer of the Month for excellence in Internet retail sales.”
Each month, Autobytel’s sales and dealer operations teams evaluate prospective
candidates from a competitive field of thousands of automotive retailers in
the Autobytel network, with a monthly winner selected based on key online
automotive best practices.
Criteria evaluated for the Autobytel Dealer Awards Program include conversion
rates, lead management processes, customer service principles, customer and
brand retention analytics and Internet department practices, among others.
“An Internet lead is a hand raiser and you want to respond to them in a way
that qualifies you…in a way that reinforces how you’re the most qualified to
help them find the perfect car,” said Hulette. “At Mechanicsville Toyota, we
give our customers clear and concise answers and provide them with the full
spectrum of services when it comes to their automotive needs—from a staff of
qualified team members who understand how to meet those needs.”
Mechanicsville Toyota is part of the Page Auto Group of Richmond, Virginia
that represents brands such as Toyota, Audi, Honda, Volkswagen, Hyundai and
Scion. Under the direction of Hulette and Dealer Principal, Larry Page, the
store has won the Toyota President’s Award—the highest honor a dealership can
receive from Toyota and awarded to dealerships for excellence in Sales,
Service, Parts and Customer Satisfaction—for the last four consecutive years.
Named # 1 Dealers’ Choice Awards in 2012 by Auto Dealer Monthly, a finalist of
the 2013 DrivingSales Most Valuable Insight Award, and a Power 250 Company by
Auto Remarketing Magazine, Autobytel consistently ranks as a top quality
Internet lead provider, with the company’s internally-generated leads
converting at approximately three times the rate of the estimated industry
average.
For more information about the October 2013 Autobytel Dealer of the Month,
Tanner Hulette, visit
http://dealer.autobytel.com/dealer-corner/autobytel-dealer-spotlight-tanner-hulette-mechanicsville-toyota/.
Visit http://www.autobytel.com to learn about the company's leading automotive
information, products and services; watch exclusive new car videos, test
drives and car reviews at Autobytel’s YouTube page
http://www.youtube.com/autobytel; or join the conversation on the Autobytel
Facebook Fan Page http://www.facebook.com/autobytel.
About Autobytel Inc.
Autobytel Inc. provides high quality consumer leads and associated marketing
services to automotive dealers and manufacturers throughout the United States
and offers consumers robust and original online automotive content to help
them make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the automotive
internet in 1995 with its flagship website www.autobytel.com and has since
helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected
thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and helped every
major automaker market its brand online.
Investors and other interested parties can receive Autobytel news releases and
invitations to special events by accessing the online registration form at
investor.autobytel.com/alerts.cfm.
Contact:
Autobytel Inc. Media Relations
Splash Media
Jennifer Lange
949-916-4820
jlange@getsplashmedia.com
or
Autobytel Inc. Investor Relations
Curtis DeWalt
Chief Financial Officer
949-437-4694
curtisd@autobytel.com
or
PondelWilkinson Inc.
Roger Pondel/Laurie Berman
310-279-5980
investor@pondel.com